


the highest of duties

by firstlovelatespring



Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coda, M/M, Mentions of String, Post-Episode: s01e01 Hard Facts: Vandalism and Vulgarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23194123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstlovelatespring/pseuds/firstlovelatespring
Summary: Peter can’t help but wonder why Sam agreed to help him with this. Why, if Sam is such a skeptic, is he here by Peter’s side?
Relationships: Sam Ecklund/Peter Maldonado
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	the highest of duties

Peter and Sam are sprawled out on Peter’s bed, going over Peter’s notes. Sam is one of the only people who can read Peter’s handwriting when it’s this messy, when he’s thinking too fast to bother with gentle curves and any nonessential marks. His notebook has been filling with fast thoughts, lately. There are about a dozen leads he wants to be investigating, yesterday. Every moment spent on homework or chores feels like a waste when there’s Dylan’s case to work on.

Sam leans back on his elbows, done reading.

“What do you think?” Peter asks.

“I don’t know, dude. I mean, I’m free this week, I’ll go with you and shit, but I don’t know about this whole thing.”

“What don’t you know?”

“Like, the school board’s evidence is super circumstantial, but so is ours, you know? I think you totally have a point with ball hairs, but does it really prove Dylan innocent?”

“I’m not trying to prove Dylan innocent.”

Sam rolls his eyes. “I know, you’re trying to ‘be an impartial observer and uncover the truth’ and all that.”

“Okay, point taken, laying it on too thick.” Peter surreptitiously crosses out a line in his notes. “But I mean it, Sam, with this doc I want to show people that there’s more to the story than the school board says there was.”

“More to the story. I can buy that.”

And that’s more than fine. Peter can work with that.

There’s a movie playing on Peter’s laptop, volume low, like he sometimes puts on in the background. It’s already started, and Peter knows the second half of _Inception_ probably doesn’t make any sense to someone who’s never seen it before, but Sam’s watching, and out of the corner of his eye, Peter watches Sam. Because he started working on the doc he’s focused more than anything on the mystery of the dicks, of course, but Peter can’t help but wonder why Sam agreed to help him with this. Why, if Sam is such a skeptic, is he here by Peter’s side?

The best way to find answers is to ask for them. Peter’s already done a dozen interviews over the past few days; he knows that now better than ever. Logically, he should just ask Sam why he agreed to this project if he doesn’t believe in it. But that’s the problem with asking instead of piecing things together and drawing your own conclusions. Assuming you trust your source, the answer you get becomes fact. And Peter’s not sure he’s ready for that.

He’s had a feeling for a while now that Sam might, well. That he might feel something more than strictly friendship for Peter. And Peter doesn’t have a _problem_ with that, doesn’t mind at all having Sam follow him down this particular rabbit hole, whatever the reason, but he isn’t quite ready for it to leave the subtext of their friendship. If that’s true, if that’s why Sam agreed to this project, he doesn’t want to put Sam on the spot.

And if it’s not true? If Sam has some other perfectly good reason for agreeing to this project? Peter doesn’t want to know. The other problem with interviews is that people are unpredictable.

Sam looks over at him. “Why I feel like you’re about to ask me something about the doc?”

“Because I am,” Peter says. He’s always so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he forgets other people are piecing together their own mysteries, too. “Why, uh, why did you buy us blue string?”

Sam laughs. “Wow, okay, I would have thought you’d get out the cameras for a hard-hitting question like that.”

“I know you only wanted red for the corkboard,” Peter says, shrugging. “You said it had more ‘artistic integrity.’”

“God, okay, I hear it now, you’re not the only one who can get pretentious.” Sam stretches out on the bed, yawning. “The yarn was on sale, I thought we could use it for a side project or something.”

Peter turns off the light, stretches out next to Sam, and smiles. Sam complains about the doc, about how he still thinks Dylan did the dicks and Peter’s reading into things, and then he buys blue string. Before ball hairs, before conceding that there might be something to Dylan’s innocence - Sam was already thinking about side projects, already committed to doing this, together. They fall asleep, soon, and Peter doesn’t ask his other question. He’s alright drawing his own conclusions from the evidence right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Sam actually does buy blue string in addition to the more famous red string. Accepting other suggestions as to why in the comments. Title from [this](https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_huxley_402247?src=t_skepticism) Thomas Huxley quote on skepticism.


End file.
